The matcha snowskin is made by simply mixing matcha powder with water, as for the coffee flavour, I used 3-in-1 coffee ;)

Last Friday, I did not know what has gotten into me, after sending our elder son to school for his project discussion, I made a last minute decision to swing by Kwong Cheong Thye. My better half didn't mind making a detour as he is always eager to be able to do something for me ;)

I gave myself just a few minutes to shop as I had asked him to park at the roadside to wait for me. It was the first time I stepped into this shop and immediately I regretted not coming here instead of going to the usual baking supply stores to get the first batch of mooncake filling. Besides the necessary ingredients for making mooncakes, the shop offers a wider varieties of mooncake fillings. The best thing is, there are also half-kg packs. I first grabbed the low sugar white lotus paste (the thing that drove me to this shop in the first place), then the durian ones...but when I saw the mango flavour, I dropped the durian paste, and went on to pick up another cranberry paste ;)

Here are the new flavours I made...Cranberry snowskin mooncakes with cranberry paste and Mango snowskin mooncakes. I used only fruit juices to make the snowskin, ie, cranberry juice and mango juice respectively. I didn't add any food colouring, so the colour was a bit on the pale side.

Of the two, we prefer the mango paste, it is softer and has a nice mango flavour to it, whereas the cranberry one is a bit bland, the only plus point is, it comes with bits of cranberries. The pastes doesn't taste overly sweet, they pair of quite well with the snowskin since I used a recipe that calls for less sugar than most recipes that I have came across. However, the mango paste is quite soft compared to the lotus paste and the cranberry ones. Even though I kept it in the fridge after shaping them into small rounds, it was quite difficult to wrap the snowskin dough over it. I used the leftovers for baked mooncakes, it is just slightly easier.

So, all in all, I made 7 batches of mooncakes this year, a whopping 87 moonies! Luckily, they are all mini ones and my boys could eat them the whole day! I shudder at the thought of how many pounds I will be piling on, but I do have this attitude of 'eat first, die later', haha!

We will be spending the night eating more mooncakes over pu-er tea (great for busting the extra fat) and enjoying the sweet juicy pomelo (not so easy to get sweet ones) and probably some yams to round up the night.

I wish all of you who celebrate this occasion, a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, 中秋节快乐！

Sieve together cooked glutinous rice flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Rub the shortening into the flour mixture with fingertips until a crumbly mixture forms. Add cold water to the mixture and knead for a couple of minutes to form a soft dough. Do not over work the dough.

Leave dough in the fridge for about 15 mins. (You may skip this step.)

At the mean time, divide the lotus paste into 30g portions and shape into balls. (Note: I used a ratio of 40% dough to 60% filling for my 50g mooncake mould.)

When ready, divide snowskin dough into 20g pieces. Shape each dough into a ball. For each dough, place it on palm and flatten with fingers to form a round dough about 5cm in diameter. Wrap the dough skin around the filling and shape it into a ball. Seal the seams.

Dust mooncake moulds (diameter 4cm, for 50g mooncake) with some cooked glutinous rice flour. Place the wrapped dough into the mould and press the mooncake out. Make sure the surface of the dough in contact with the patterned-face of the mould is smooth. Store mooncakes in fridge for up to 1 week. Leave it under room temperature for about 15mins for the skin to soften before serving.

Variations:
* Matcha flavour - replace cold water with: mix 1 teaspoon of matcha powder with 90ml of hot water. Leave to cool and then chill in fridge for at least 30mins before using.
**Coffee flavour - replace cold water with: mix 1 satchel of 3-in-1 powder powder (about 20g) with 90ml of hot water. Leave to cool and then chill in fridge for at least 30mins before using.
*** Cranberry flavour - replace cold water with same amount of cranberry juice.
*** Mango flavour - replace cold water with same amount of mango juice.

Haha! I also made my first trip to KCT to get the 1/2 kg packets. I'm surprised to find many products besides mooncake stuffs. And my mum was very happy to get her vegetarian supplies there. Will visit there more often.

So many flavours! Send some mooncakes to me. Happy mid-autumn festival! :)

The colours looked so lovely. Thou you said the cranberry one is pale in colour, I find that it looks very nice. I don't think I have the time to try your skin recipe and the book recipe together. The one I source use alot of sugar. :-(

Thank you for your kind reply. I guess I have to make a trip to the store to get the shortening then. Can't wait to try your recipe. Just another question, do you think it is alright if I cut down in the amount of icing sugar? Would it affect the texture of the moon cakes? Or the sugar is purely for taste purposes? I am asking because my family would prefer the moonies to be as non-sweet as possible. Am thinking of reducing the sugar to be half of what the recipe calls for. Thank you so much for answering my queries. It really helps a lot for a first time baker like me. TIA! Eileen

Hi Eileen, the skin is actually not that sweet, it is the filling that is sweet though, especially if you get ready made ones. Last year, I bought ready made low sugar lotus paste from 广祥泰, Kwong Cheong Thye, I would recommend that you take a trip down (I assume you are a local?). I also think (may not be correct) that the amount of icing sugar used in this recipe is relatively lower than most recipes, ie comparing sugar to flour ratio. If it is still a concern, maybe you can test the snowskin before wrapping with the filling. If it is too sweet, u can make another batch with less icing sugar although I really do not know whether it will have any effect. I am not suggesting that you should waste ingredients, but it is relatively cheap to make the skin. Hope this helps :)

Hi HHB, just want to drop a note to tell u that your mooncakes look so pretty! thanks for sharing :)I think this year I will try making snowskin mooncakes, traditional ones look too difficult for me :p

Hi Baking Scientist, snowskin mooncakes is a good start, but I am sure you will be able to venture into baking the traditional ones very soon. They are not as difficult especially with ready made fillings :)

Hi, You didn't mention why your snowskin mooncake fail or how you went about it. I assume you are only having issue with the flour? I bought the cooked glutinous rice flour from phoon huat too. So far we are able to accept the smell...in fact my kids associate this unique 'flour smell' with snowskin mooncakes. How about the texture of the snowskin? Do you like it?

Hello HHB, I tried making snowskin mooncake today using another recipe: http://amandalwh.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/snow-skin-lotus-paste-mooncake/ and substituted shortening with veg oil, as I read from another blog that it can be done. My dough was a bit oily, taste wise, there is a slight "flour" smell. I think perhaps this is what "Unknown" meant. Maybe we are not used to this kind of flour :p